PS Draft Reworked but WAY over character limit. Any suggestions welcome!

[mpisano12]

A wise man once said, “When it is darkest, men see the stars”. (Ralph Waldo Emerson).Throughout my life, I had a difficult time grasping such quotations because I had, for the most part, escaped facing any great turmoil or loss. I had witnessed the passing of family members, but no one truly close to me. However, when I was 25 my grandmother, and acting second mother throughout my life, suddenly experienced loss of function and feeling in her tongue. To our disbelief, the cause was a group of malignant cells gathered in her brain around the hippocampus. My family and I were in constant support from the beginning and catered to her every need. The promise of early recognition and positive feedback from her physician only increased my “Nana’s” optimistic outlook. However, what began as a seemingly minor issue with her feeding tube quickly escalated into a fatal meningitis infection. As I sat in her hospital room, staring incredulously at my grandmother’s lifeless body in her final moments, I vividly remember questioning how this situation occurred and what could have been done to prevent it. In this painful deliberation, an even greater desire to act as a compassionate servant of the medical community was ignited.

 

My passion to heal and facilitate to the needs of others those around me has remained steadfast throughout my life. During high school, I geared my focus towards the physical sciences in preparation for a future in the medical field. In addition, I volunteered at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, which allowed my initial gratifying experiences serving in the medical field. Also, I took other leadership roles as a Student Ambassador and a TEC board member, which generated an even greater fervor to serve my fellow man. As pediatrics became an increasing interest of mine, my employment as a day camp counselor allowed an outlet to both learn from and care for children of many different ages and background. The HISRA program associated with the camp also allowed for me to spend ample time with the special needs children with both psychological and physical disabilities. Though I became very close to many of the children in their families, a child by the name of Clifford will always remain vivid in my memory. Clifford was like any other happy, charming 6 year old when I first met him. However, one day Clifford was taking part in a group soccer game, but seemed to be wandering and unaware of what was going on around him. In the weeks that followed, I learned that he had been diagnosed with a rare genetic disease which rapidly degraded his eyesight. As the summer progressed, the signs became more apparent, and by the time our winter camp had rolled around, Clifford had been declared legally blind. I took on the task of making Cliff feel welcome and included, such as walking him to our various activities, helping him change clothes, taking him down the waterslide, and playing his favorite board game Guess Who? Though I learned that Clifford eventually passed a few years later, he taught me the rewards of caring for a child in need.

 

I continued my journey towards the medical field as I entered the University of Illinois as a student in their highly respected Molecular and Cellular Biology program. The endless resources and extremely gifted minds that shaped my program allowed for me to develop a wealth of knowledge. However, “To whom much is given, much is expected”, as the saying goes, and for the first time I found myself somewhere other than the top of my classes. My struggles only increased my ambition to succeed in my goals to help others. It was in this dark and stressful time that I first also began seeing an academic advisor at the career center at the U of I. Guy was the first counselor who took the time to look past my academic statistics, and take a deeper look at my strengths of compassion as well as building trust and relationships with people, and how that could best fit with my drive to make a difference in the medical field. It was in this painstaking self reflection that Guy first told me about physician assistant as a career choice. Up until that point my path seemed to be streamlined towards medical school, I had never been introduced to the other careers in the medical field. However, first learning of the balance that the career of Physician Assistant allowed both for a home life and more time with patients, while still demanding a high level of knowledge and responsibility seemed to perfectly match my persona. As I started to find potential in Physician Assistant becoming a viable career option, I was also taking my first psychology class and became engrossed in the idea of being able to care for individuals on both a physical and psychological level. So, in a fearless attempt to gain an edge over my competition and ultimately become a more diverse medical professional, I took the steps to take on Psychology as a second major. This task ended up being more daunting that anticipated, but the diverse perspective of human beings from both a social and physical level is an asset I would never trade. However, struggling to find resources to finish credits, I opted to graduate with a psychology major in 2008, and look for opportunities to gain more experience in the field. However, with the economy at its lowest in decades, I eventually took promising entry-level position in St. Louis. It became quickly apparent to me that I found no gratification what I was doing, and that caring for others was my true calling. As I returned home to my fatally ill grandmother, the time spent caring for her alongside dedicated and compassionate physicians and PAs only heightened my desire to utilize my skills to serve the medical field as a Physician Assistant.

 

Though I had taken a hiatus from formal education until recently, my candid curiosity and aspiration to aid others has never extinguished. For the past two years I have been employed at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center as part of the admitting and patient accounts departments. After I was hired by the hospital in 2009, I applied to various jobs within the facility that would allow direct patient contact, but none of the departments had full time hours to offer. After feeling the effects of economic hardship in St. Louis as a post-graduate, a full time position at a hospital with benefits was as close as I could get to direct patient care while allowing me to keep financially afloat. Although the position does not require physical interaction with patients, we do act as a first contact for the majority of those coming into the facilities. This allows for me to make a connection with the patients and alleviate many of the concerns or questions they may have regarding their upcoming appointments. In doing so, I feel that I have gained a valuable insight as to how the general public feels about healthcare systems and what can be done to maximize its accessibility and efficiency. Also, the detail and compassion required from all staff members in order to provide competent and compassionate care while ultimately gaining the trust of the patient has become increasingly apparent. It is my feeling that without trust for your caregivers, true healing is more difficult to achieve.

 

Along with a gaining a wealth of knowledge as an employee at a healthcare facility, I have also been able to attain valuable insights to the medical field and continuously acquire knowledge through a variety of alternate resources. As I mentioned earlier, I was able to volunteer for Saint Francis Medical Center in high school. In addition, I have been fortunate enough to shadow specialists such as a Pediatric Surgeon as well as Physician Assistant specializing in Nephrology. To sharpen my knowledge of the field, I am currently retaking pre-requisite courses. In addition, I am exploring volunteer opportunities to gain more patient contact as well as scheduled to re-certify my BLS training.

 

Physician Assistant is a calling that has resonated with me since I first learned of its existence. I believe my academic knowledge of biology and psychology along with passion for healthcare will allow me to flourish as a PA. In addition, the freedom to serve independently across many fields of medicine, while still allowing for a balance between healthcare and family is exactly the symmetry in my life I’ve been seeking Becoming a part of this field of dedicated health professionals would fulfill my aspirations of providing competent, compassionate care to individuals physically, while allowing the freedom to create lasting relationships with patients. I appreciate your consideration and look forward to studying under the guidance of your institution as I pursue the knowledge and experience needed to serve my fellow man, woman, and child.<br>

[mpisano12]

Thank you for your suggestion PAMAC. Your insight is greatly valued...

[GatorRRT]

....ok here we go. I would cut both the second paragraph about your high school experience, as well as the second to last paragraph about shadowing. My rational being most schools won't care too much about your high school life (unless you did something extraordinary) and that I'd assume you already included your shadowing hours on your CASPA, why include them again? Doing this gets you to about 6200 characters. As for the 1200 or so remaining, I know everyone has different styles of writing, but I feel like you're overly wordy. Try cutting unnecessary adjectives and I bet you'll be close to that 5000 mark.